Green Crime in the Canadian Courts: Issues and Controversies

Abstract

This paper examines the challenges prosecutors face in successfully convicting individuals and corporations of environmental or “green crime” offences in Canada. The data used in this study consist of 29 legal case files of alleged green crimes in the province of Ontario in the last five years (2008-2012). Successfully prosecuting environmental offenders appears difficult due to several complex, inter-connecting challenges. The common difficulties that are examined in this paper include: challenges of legal definition, jurisdictional issues, liability questions, constitutional rights, burden of proof, admissibility of evidence, and due process considerations.